cleopatra and anthony

A photo from the archives. I sat on these steps at Kom Ombo for a while a few years back. Cleopatra once sat here many years ago and I was sure I could hear her story whispered by the wind. A woman’s voice said

You must not stay here longer, your dismission
Is come from Caesar; therefore hear it, Antony.
Where's Fulvia's process? Caesar's I would say? both?
Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt's queen,
Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine
Is Caesar's homager: else so thy cheek pays shame
When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The messengers! A man’s voice replied:

Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair [embracing]
And such a twain can do't, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.